On the heels of Fanatics Fest this week, the WWE rolled into Madison Square Garden in New York City tonight for the latest installment of Saturday Night’s Main Event. A four-match card (plus one on the countdown show) was highlighted by two tag team matches: one for championship gold and another with Summerslam implications. Plus, the 2026 NBA Finals MVP was in the house with the OTC. As always, for a play-by-play of the night’s events, check out Claire Elizabeth’s live coverage here. Now onto the recap!
Punk & Cody Co-Exist Just Enough
The WWE Championship has been hot-potatoed a bit in recent weeks. After Sami Zayn won a Triple Threat match with Cody Rhodes and Gunther at Night of Champions, CM Punk ended Sami’s title reign in controversial fashion just 9 days later on an episode of Raw in Chicago. Punk, who returned after being off our screens since WrestleMania, saw that title match basically fall out of the sky after Gunther brutally attacked Cody Rhodes backstage earlier that evening. The man who made a call to Punk to give him that match?
Nick Aldis.
The Smackdown GM has been stuck in Gunther’s crosshairs since the main event at Night of Champions. The Ring General, pissed that he lost the Triple Threat match without getting pinned, took his frustration out on his boss, which ended in a shoving match between the two of them backstage. Gunther was suspended and Aldis was placed on administrative leave, but that only lasted a week.
When they returned on Smackdown last week, Gunther demanded a title shot and respect from Aldis, but instead, Nick just signed Gunther for tonight’s tag team match. No stipulations were immediately announced, so it seemed like a random throwaway match to add a few marquee stars to the MSG card. Gunther, of course, wasn’t satisfied and took out his ire on Aldis, brutally attacking him and choking him out in the middle of the ring. Well, whether it was the plan all along or WWE just did a solid retcon job, they added big stakes to the match on Smackdown last night. If Gunther and Zayn win, they are added to the WWE Title match at Summerslam. If Cody and Punk win, their match remains a 1-on-1 contest.
After an awkward discussion in Gorilla between Cody and Punk about who should make their entrance first, Cody’s music hit, followed by Punk’s. Gunther then made his way down, making Sami the last one out. Before the bell could ring, the Last Real Good Guy picked up right where he left off last night on Smackdown and attacked CM Punk. The bell rang, the match started quickly, and it really never slowed down. All four men showed why they’re among the best wrestlers in the company, fighting with a sense of urgency throughout the entire match.
At times, Gunther and Sami showed fantastic teamwork, and it looked like they might earn entry into the WWE Title match at Summerslam. With Gunther locked in a Figure 4 from Cody and Sami locked in an Anaconda Vise from Punk, Der Ring General reached over and raked Punk’s eyes, forcing him to break his hold on Zayn. Once Sami regained his bearings, Gunther urged him to break him out of his own submission, and Zayn returned the favor.
Later on, Punk was looking for a hot tag from Cody, but Rhodes was out of commission. When Rhodes finally made it up to the apron, Gunther shoved Punk into Cody, knocking Rhodes back down to the floor. Gunther then locked in a sleeper but Punk was able to fight out and give Cody just enough time to get back up for a tag. Rhodes stormed in and hit a Cross Rhodes, but when he went for the cover, Sami broke it up, initiating a mid-ring collision between all four men and referee Charles Robinson!
Things would break down from there. With Sami and Punk out of the picture, Gunther hit Cody with the WWE Title belt and then planted him with a huge powerbomb. A second referee sprinted down, and just as he got to two, Smackdown GM Nick Aldis appeared and pulled him out of the ring! When Gunther realized what had happened, he stormed at Nick, who nailed him with the WWE Title belt, allowing Punk to hit a GTS and lay Cody on top of Gunther for the win.
After the match, with their Summerslam match now official official, Cody and Punk celebrated their win. As Punk was fixing to leave, he flung the WWE Title over his shoulder, and the strap grazed Cody in the face. Cody was mildly annoyed, though visibly so, but Punk was oblivious to it. Not sure if that was intentional, but WWE’s X account picked up on it, making me think it’s an angle. Maybe that’ll be the spark that turns up the heat on their feud heading into Summerslam.
Reaction: When this match was first announced 8 days ago, it felt like just a token tag match to beef up the star power for an event that was sorely lacking it. When they revealed the stipulation last night on Smackdown, it immediately raised the stakes. Although a Punk/Rhodes 1-on-1 showdown was always the likely path, these four gentlemen did more than enough to put that outcome in doubt throughout this match. The action was frantic from the get-go and had me on the edge of my seat from the opening bell. Although Aldis getting involved was somewhat telegraphed, I still think it was done well, and it capped off a really entertaining tag team match.
Kings of New York
After an Eli Manning-narrated video package running down the championship history of New York, 2026 NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson got a pre-game-like introduction and then walked through the halls of MSG as video highlights of his historic season played. World Champion Roman Reigns was there to greet him as he made it to Gorilla, and they headed down to the ring together, throwing their ones up and embracing the pyro along the way.
After dueling “Jalen Brunson” and “OTC” chants, Roman Reigns took the mic first and said MSG is a place where greatness acknowledges greatness. Just like there’s only one Tribal Chief, there’s only one captain, one Finals MVP, and one king of New York. After glazing Brunson for a bit more, Reigns introduced a replica WWE World Title belt with Knicks colors on the straps and Brunson’s #11 on the sideplates and presented it to him. With both men raising their matching title belts, Roman asked the New York crowd to acknowledge them….. which cued Seth Rollins’ music!
Instead of the Visionary, Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton emerged, toting a steel chair. As he sauntered to the ring, Seth Rollins ran in from behind and attacked Roman! As Seth lined up for a Stomp on the steel chair Haliburton brought down, Jalen Brunson stepped in the way, allowing Roman enough time to regroup and come flying in with a Superman Punch! Reigns would then hit a Spear on Rollins, sending Seth and Haliburton retreating up the ramp.
At the close of the show, Jalen Brunson raised the World Title belt, and Roman Reigns hoisted the Larry O’Brien, sending the Madison Square Garden crowd home happy.
Reaction: This must’ve been a really cool moment if you are a Knicks fan. For me, it fell a little flat. After weeks of the lines between good guy and bad guy being blurred with Roman and Seth, Seth taking on the heel role here and bringing out Haliburton in MSG felt a little forced. It made Saturday Night’s Main Event feel more like a glorified house show, which, I guess, is a criticism it’s gotten before for different reasons. I get why the WWE would do something like this, coming off the Knicks Finals win and Fanatics Fest in NYC all week, but for me, I would’ve preferred that the tag team match close out the show.
Lyra Chokes Bayley Out
Lyra Valkyria and Bayley’s history together goes all the way back to WrestleMania two years ago. The duo was scheduled to compete for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles, but Bayley was attacked a few days before the show. Becky Lynch would conveniently step in and tag with Lyra, only to reveal later that she was Bayley’s attacker in the first place. Bayley would return and eventually reform her tag team with Lyra, and the duo had been pursuing tag team gold for months when they came up short against Scream Mode last month. After the match, Lyra completely snapped, viciously attacking her partner, and has undergone a noticeable character shift in the weeks since.
That shift continued to evolve tonight as the formerly flamboyant Bird Lady came out to a remixed version of her theme music wearing darker ring gear than we’re accustomed to seeing. The match got some color almost immediately as Bayley inadvertently landed an elbow across the bridge of Lyra’s nose. It was an accident, but a happy one, as the bloody look added some depth to Lyra’s unhinged persona. During a physical back-and-forth match, Bayley took control with a brutal sunset flip bomb into the bottom turnbuckle and locked in a crossface right across Lyra’s obviously broken nose. Valkyria scrambled to fight the Role Model off and finally did by working to a vertical base and draping Bayley neck first across the top rope. Bayley went for a Bayley-to-Belly, but Lyra slipped out, flipped her over, and locked in a vicious-looking Saka Otoshi (shoutout to Claire for identifying the move!). Lyra bridged up to increase the pressure, and Bayley passed out! After the match, Lyra continued her attack and hit a Night Wing on top of the steel steps!
Reaction: It was clear that Bayley’s shot to Lyra’s nose wasn’t intentional, and hopefully Lyra’s okay, but the blood added an extra dimension to Valkyria’s new persona that really helped this match. In a real-world sense, that was a gutsy performance from Lyra, assuming her nose is most definitely broken. In a kayfabe sense, she definitely has to refine her new gimmick a little bit, but I think this was a good showing for the unhinged bird lady. As for Bayley, I can only imagine the fuel that this is going to add to the “Davina Rose is All Elite” conversations. I gotta believe this wasn’t a rivalry ending match, and maybe we see Lyra and Bayley go at it again at Summerslam, but either way, it’s starting to feel like Bayley has one foot out the door.
Danhausen vs. JD McDonagh
During the King of the Ring tournament, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh tried to pay Danhausen $100,000 to curse Oba Femi so Dirty Dom could get past The Ruler and into the finals. Danhausen wisely refused, but still made off with the stacks of money. Since then, the Judgment Day has been out for revenge. That set up tonight’s Street Fight between Danhausen and McDonagh. To remind us of their history, WWE Studiohausens presented a Very Nice, Very Evil (and very funny) production of The Cursefather.
Danhausen made his customary entrance decked out in New York Knicks royal blue and orange, with his cloning machine crate nestled on the entryway. Once the bell rang, Street Fight shenanigans started almost immediately. Dom distracted Danhausen from the jump, and Judgment Day focused their taunting on the New York Knicks jersey they recently stole. Much to the delight of the MSG crowd, Danhausen got his jersey back, put it on, and like Popeye eating spinach, was almost invincible all of a sudden. With Danhausen picking up momentum, Dom got back in, and a 2-on-1 attack ensued.
With Judgment Day back in control, they went in search of a table under the ring, and that’s when three Minihausens appeared! As Dom and JD fought to neutralize that threat, Danhausen meandered over to the cloning machine crate. He stuffed the stuffed cat from Smackdown last night into the crate through the doggy door, and a few seconds later, a real KAT came out: NBA Champion Karl-Anthony Towns!
Towns headed down to the ring and hit Dom and JD with chokeslams (Dom’s through the table that Judgment Day had set up). Danhausen then hit the Triple D, the Danhausen Death Drop, to pick up the win.
Reaction: The Street Fight stipulation being added to this one guaranteed shenanigans, but this was still a fun match. Now that the NBA season is over, it’ll be interesting to see how much further Danhausen will be able to carry all of this New York Knicks momentum. As for the Judgment Day, props to them for selling their asses off for not only Danhausen, but the Minihausens and KAT as well.
Fatal Influence Wins Gold
After making a big splash in their first few weeks on the main roster, Fatal Influence had seen their momentum all but dry up in recent weeks. Two of their main targets since debuting on Smackdown have been the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Paige and Brie Bella. Even after coming up short in a non-title match against the champs back in June and not winning a single tag match since being called up, the team of Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid worked their way into a title match on tonight’s show.
Fatal Influence worked well together and controlled the proceedings for most of the match, but the champs started to turn the tide after Paige made it to Brie for a hot tag. Bella activated Brie Mode and unleashed a flurry of offense on Henley and Reid. Later on, with the champs still in control, Jacy Jayne hopped up on the apron and caught the attention of Crooked Carr, allowing Fallon to run a sneak attack on Paige. As Paige looked for another tag, Lainey charged at her in the corner. Paige got out of the way, and Reid crashed into the ringpost, but as Paige wrapped her in a waistlock, Fallon grabbed her partner’s hands to prevent Paige from rolling her up. Just then, Brie came flying in to take out Henley, finally allowing Paige to stack Lainey up, but Jacy got up on the apron and pushed Paige over, allowing Reid to reverse the cover and pick up the 3-count!
Reaction: This was the right call, and I’m glad my pick in the Predictions post was wrong. Fatal Influence made a pretty big splash when they debuted on Smackdown, but a quick glance online shows me they hadn’t won a single tag team match on the main roster outside of a 6-woman against Alexa, Charlotte, and Rhea all the way back in May. I still think Jacy should have won her match against Tiffany last night, but this provides me with hope that the Fatal Influence aura can be restored on the main roster. As for Scream Mode, with rumors of Nikki being able to return soon, I feel like it’s telegraphing the Bella Twins turning on Paige at some point in the near future, so they can have the tag team run they were supposed to have before Nikki got hurt. And if that’s what it takes to bring A.J. Lee back into the fold, I’m all for it!
Trick and Oba Shine on the Countdown Show
For the first time in recent memory, WWE added a half-hour Countdown show to a Saturday Night’s Main Event broadcast. For the longest time, WWE’s pre-PPV-PLE shows would feature matches to get the crowd in the arena warmed up for the evening, but most Countdown shows in recent memory have been all talk and no action.
Tonight, though, in a match signed at the eleventh hour, a Yachty-less United States Champion, Trick Williams, defeated former AAA Cruiserweight Champion, Laredo Kid. It was a short match that served as a showcase for both men, as well as WWE’s lucha libre brand. After showing off some innovative offense and earning the night’s first “Holy S#!@” chants, Laredo Kid fell to a Trick Knee and the US Champion, furry title belt and all, basked in the “Whoop that trick!” chants in the world’s most famous arena.
Just as the Countdown show was about to wrap up, Stephanie McMahon, who co-hosted with Joe Tessitore, was in the ring and introduced The Ruler, Oba Femi. Oba cut a brief, yet unsurprisingly solid promo, talking about his Hell in a Cell match with Brock Lesnar, coming up in just two weeks at Summerslam. Oba closed with a warning to the Beast that Oba isn’t trapped in the Cell with Brock….. Brock is trapped in the Cell with him!
Reaction: This was a pretty solid use of a half-hour. Instead of the regular WWE formula of a panel of analysts previewing the show (which I happen to think is fine in small doses), they got two of the most over stars in the entire company an appearance in MSG, and worked in a nice little showcase for AAA to boot.
Final Thoughts
On paper, this looked like a skippable episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event, but I think it overdelivered. Fatal Influence winning gold was the right call, the Danhausen stuff was fun as always, Lyra’s heel run is off to a decent start, and the tag team match was exciting throughout. I could’ve done without the closing segment, but again, I get why WWE would book it the way they did. All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday night!
So what do you think, Cagesiders? Where is your excitement level for with just two weeks left until Summerslam? Sound off in the comments below!
